Double Happiness--adventures with Lily and Elsa: October 2006

Happy Halloween

Lily the Pumpkin Witch. The girls picked out their own costumes this year.

Elsa the Pumpkin Witch. They've been having a blast celebrating the holiday. We've been getting ready by decorating the house, reading stories and carving pumpkins. Grandma A even sent them a "Great Pumpkin" that we keep on the mantle.

Posing by the fireplace, LE

Lily and Elsa are very serious about their pumpkins. They are sitting next to each other's pumpkins. Elsa wanted her pumpkin to have a smile and triangle eyes/nose. Lily wanted oval eyes and a sad face with teeth.

Daddy and the girls at the Halloween Parade last night. The girls saw lots of their friends. Very cute event, complete with the Town Crier and P-ton Marching Band. I inadvertently dressed them in university colors. (orange and black). So, their costumes were a big hit!

Today they wore their costumes to Library School which had a Halloween Theme. We sang songs about pumpkins and read a story about a ghost.

Tonight, tricks or treats. Happy Halloween!

Fall Goodness

Yesterday we took a little hike on the Princeton Tow Path. It runs on the Deleware-Raritan Canal. Over a hundred years ago barges carried coal on the canal from the Pennsylvania mines up to New York City. Now it carries, ducks, geese and occasional rowers.

Daddy teaching the girls to skip rocks. (E,L,M)

The leaves are almost peaking in Central New Jersey.

Mommy, Lily and Elsa in the sun.

Lily shows Elsa how to throw sticks.

Did I mention that they are part monkey?

In case anybody's wondering why my hair's going gray at 28 . . . After breakfast this morning, I ran upstairs to check my email while the girls watched Sesame Street. After a few too many minutes of blissful silence (yay! no fighting!), I began to hear a strange rustling. I crept down the stairs and what did I see?

Two little monkeys sitting on the dining room table. They had their arms up to their elbows inside the cheerio box. Notice their grins of impish delight. Notice that despite being discovered, Lily is still stuffing her little face with cereal while Elsa begins to pull down the chandilier.

Anybody want to babysit?

Pretty please . . .

Girls in a box

I love when the girls make up games to entertain themselves. Lily and Elsa make good use of these empty Rubbermaid containers.

Lily front, Elsa back. Lily was feeling like big stuff because she's wearing a necklace for the first time. The girls really love jewlery.

I love this picture of Elsa. She looks to beautiful and serene. Lately, she's been the more serious of my two daughters. She displays a great amount of empathy. Yesterday, I decided to try giving the girls time outs. I had Lily sit for a couple of minutes on the stone in front of the fireplace because she knocked Elsa over. But, Elsa just insisted on sitting next to Lily for the duration of the timeout. She didn't want Lily to be alone. I thought it was pretty cute.

Lily's been the more boisterous daughter lately. She is so excited about everything. Her whole being is very enthusiastic. She also makes up the funniest songs. Yesterday she said at dinner "I sing the mommy song." Then she sang "Mommeee Mommee Mommee Mommee Mommee Mommee"over and over again. She has a similar tune for the Daddy Song and the Elsa Song.

Just wanted to document this backlit fire 'fro. I think the girls' hair is reaching New Jersey proportions. Our neighbor remarked that the girls seem to have grown a lot since we moved in a month ago. I replied that I wasn't sure if the rest of them has grown, but their hair certainly has. It is something to behold.

Happy October

Fall has arrived on the East Coast. The girls and I have been busy enjoying the season. Lots of walks in the crisp air and we've started collecting pretty leaves and hanging them in our windows.

The girls had their second round of library school this week. I decided rather than force them to sit still, I'd let the roam around unless they were disturbing anyone. That approach seemed to work much better than last time when I tried to keep them on my lap. The girls strolled around the room a bit. But, they eventually settled close to me. They liked the books, but they REALLY love to sing dance. They were probably the most enthusiastic two-year olds in the bunch. After each book/song the girls would stand up and shout hurray! They really seem to like interactive learning the best. They are such little chatterboxes. They are constantly inventing little songs and are chirping away all day long. They are starting to have long conversations with each other, too. They use real words (haven't heard much if any of the "twin talk" language. Usually, they talk about day-to-day things like what color socks to wear or Clifford the Dog. It is quite amusing. Lily seems more bossy when it comes to what activities to do. But, Elsa likes to correct or explain things to Lily. "No, Lily. You need sparkle shoes, not brown." I've also heard them use their words to tell each other no. "Don't push me." As much as they might fight amongst themselves, they are definetely a team when it comes time to deal with other kids. They really have each other's backs. But, in general they are very friendly with other kids.

This weekend, we haven't been able to do much as Mark is having some major teeth issues. He has an abscess in the area affected by the old bike wreck and will most likely need some root canals later this week. Daddy is feeling quite miserable. We hope he feels better soon. Moving to a new place and not having a regular dentist is rough.

Also happy birthday to Grandpa A, Grandma A, Grandma P and Olivia! September is a happy month in our family!